India to spend $24 mn on Himalayan Airbase near disputed China border

By Sudhi Ranjan Sen

India will spend 2 billion rupees ($24 million) to upgrade an airfield near the disputed Himalayan boundary with China to bolster its defenses. 

The improvement of the Nyoma airfield, located at 14,000 feet (4,267 meters) in the eastern part of the territory of Ladakh where much of the current border dispute is playing out, will allow the South Asian country to base fighters and transporters. 

The airbase will add to the capabilities of the Indian Air Force along the northern border, according to a statement after India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh laid the foundation stone virtually on Tuesday.

The two South Asian neighbors are locked in a bitter border dispute since 2020, the worst in four decades. A clash between troops left 20 Indian and at least four Chinese soldiers dead. The upgraded airfield could prove to be an irritant in the tense relations between the neighbors.

Both sides have mobilized thousands of troops, artillery guns, missiles and fighters close to the border since 2020. As many as 19 rounds of diplomatic-military talks between the two side have made incremental progress.

The airfield was briefly used in the past and later reactivated in 2010 but wasn’t upgraded. The absence of facilities at the Nyoma airbase forced India to use nearby airfields in the region.